1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an armrest, more particularly to an armrest that has upper and lateral surfaces wholly covered by oak wood.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional armrest 1 is shown to comprise an armrest body 10 that extends in a longitudinal direction, and that is formed with a lower surface 101, an upper surface 102, and opposing lateral surfaces 103 that interconnect the lower and upper surfaces 101, 102. Each of the lateral surfaces 103 is formed with a protruding rib 104 that extends in the longitudinal direction, a planar surface section 105 that extends from the lower surface 101 to a lower edge 104xe2x80x2 of the rib 104, and a curved surface section 106 that extends from an upper edge 104xe2x80x3 of the rib 104 to the upper surface 102.
The wood material commonly used for the conventional armrest 1 is oak wood because oak wood has high density, is tough and durable, and has uniform grain. However, the processing of the conventional armrest 1 using the multi-faceted wood planing machine results in a severe wastage of oak wood material.
Referring to FIG. 2, an armrest 2 with an oak veneer layer has been proposed heretofore to overcome the aforesaid drawback. The armrest 2 comprises an armrest body 20 that extends in a longitudinal direction, and a veneer layer 30. The armrest body 20 is made of a wood material different from oak wood, such as pine wood, red wood, and cedar wood, and has a lower surface 201, an upper surface 202, and opposing lateral surfaces 203 that interconnect the lower and upper surfaces 201, 202. Each of the lateral surfaces 203 is formed with a protruding rib 204 that extends in the longitudinal direction, a planar surface section 205 that extends from the lower surface 201 to a lower edge 204xe2x80x2 of the rib 204, and a curved surface section 206 that extends from an upper edge 204xe2x80x3 of the rib 204 to the upper surface 202. The veneer layer 30 is made of oak wood, and is fixedly attached to and covers the upper surface 202 and the curved surface sections 206 of the lateral surfaces 203 of the armrest body 20.
The armrest 2 has a relatively low oak wood material requirement. However, the planar surface sections 205 of the lateral surfaces 206 of the armrest body 20 are unable to be covered by the veneer layer 30 because of the protruding ribs 204.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an armrest that has upper and lateral surfaces wholly covered by oak wood.
Accordingly, an armrest of this invention comprises an armrest body, a veneer layer, and a pair of elongate decorative ribs. The armrest body is made of a wood material different from oak wood, extends in a longitudinal direction, and has a lower surface, an upper surface and opposing lateral surfaces that interconnect the lower and upper surfaces. Each of the lateral surfaces is formed with a groove that extends in the longitudinal direction and that has lower and upper groove edges, a planar surface section that extends from the lower surface to the lower groove edge, and a curved surface section that extends from the upper groove edge to the upper surface. The veneer layer is made of oak wood, and includes an upper veneer portion and a pair of lower veneer portions. The upper veneer portion is fixedly attached to and covers the upper surface and the curved surface sections of the lateral surfaces of the armrest body. The lower veneer portions are fixedly attached to and cover respectively the planar surface sections of the lateral surfaces of the armrest body. Each of the elongate ribs is made of oak wood, extends in the longitudinal direction, and has mounting and protruding sections. The mounting section is fixed in the groove of a respective one of the lateral surfaces of the armrest body. The protruding section is connected to the mounting section and protrudes from the veneer layer.